Come join us for a hands-on series of 8 classes that will support you through the beekeeping season from March to October.

Location: Classes are held at the Growing Gardens Greenhouse 1630 Hawthorn Ave Boulder, CO or at hives around our city
Time: 9am to 12pm/1pm one Saturday per month

Cost: $400 per person, including instructional materials

Beekeepers with some experience are welcome to register and drop-in any class for a fee of $60.00
http://www.growinggardens.org/beekeeping

Class I: Introduction to Top Bar Beekeeping

Date: Saturday, March 1st Time: 9:00a-12:00p

This class will cover expectations and an introduction to keeping bees in your back yard. We will have an opportunity to meet our fellow beekeepers. There will be a demonstration hive available for inspection and plans for building your own top bar hive.

Class II: Understanding the Bees

Date: Sunday, April 6th Time: 9:00a-12:00p

In this class we will focus on basic honeybee biology, the caste and rolls of bees that live in a colony and cover the ecology of honeybees. In the lab we will learn about hive preparation, location, how to install packaged bees or swarms, and what to look for in your new expanding colony.

Class III: Honeybee Colony Care I

Date: Sunday, April 27th Time: 9:00a-12:00p

In this class we will share how our colonies are settling in. You will learn how to handle combs, trouble-shoot problems, manage build-up, and maintain the overall health. The lab will apply the knowledge gained from the class through hands-on beekeeping.

Class IV: Honeybee Colony Care II

Date: Saturday, May 31st Time: 9:00a-12:00p

We will review how to maintain healthy colonies and discuss nectar sources and methods of understanding nectar flows. In the lab we will review proper handling of the combs, assessing queen vitality and brood development and we will learn how to observe brood patterns and colony strength through the seasons.

Class V: Practical Lab I *off-site*

Date: Saturday, July 12th Time: 9:00a-1:00p

In this lab you will have the opportunity to gain confidence and familiarity with honeybees and learn how to work a top-bar hive successfully. You will gain knowledge in how to manage hives for optimum honey production and colony health. We may begin to harvest honeycomb.

Class VI: Practical Lab II *off-site*

Date: Saturday, August 2nd Time: 9:00a-1:00p

This lab will give you a chance to improve your skills and gain more experience handling combs and bees. We may be able to harvest honey. We will discuss and practice sustainable techniques for monitoring and preventing diseases and parasites.

Class VII: Fall and Winter Care

Date: Saturday, September 6th Time: 9:00a-12:00p

In this class we will review methods and preparations for maintaining a healthy hive. We will also learn alternative honey processing techniques. We will also learn the steps needed to prepare the hives for winter and demonstrate a variety of winterization techniques unique to top bar hive management.

Class VIII: Honeybees Give Us More than Honey

Date: Saturday, October 4th Time: 9:00a-1:00p

Here we will learn how to process wax and how to make mold candles, salves, medicinal honey syrup, honey ointment and lip balms. This practical lab will be devoted to making samples of these various products and enjoying the fruits of your labor.

Sponsors

Upcoming Events

The SouthEast Beekeepers Club is a fairly unstructured group of beekeeping people who get together once a month to share information, ask questions, get news, etc. Other than having a pot luck prior to and[...]

BCBA meeting and election scheduled for this Wednesday, April 22nd at 7:00 pm at the Niwot Grange. Our organization has been without meaningful leadership since Miles McGaughey stepped down last year. Philip Bradbury and Tim[...]

Come and celebrate Boulder becoming a Bee Safe City!! Join us and celebrate Boulder becoming a Bee-Safe City, at a beautiful home in west Boulder, in a shady Boulder landscape with a lovely stream and[...]

Resilient Futures International, will be hosting a beekeeping workshop August 14-16th. The details can be found on the following Facebook link and below: https://www.facebook.com/events/117651431901370/ Please join us for a weekend of exploration and education about[...]